Squizzy the Black Squirrel: A Fabulous Fable of Friendship

Rating:
Summary: An important lesson
Review: I bought Squizzy the Black Squirrel for my 8-year-old niece. She and I both loved reading it together and turning the pages. The illustrations are beautiful, rich with color. The book and its lesson of acceptance and diversity actually caused my niece and I to have a "big people" talk as she calls it. She told me how there was a student in her class that was "different" and the other kids made fun of him. After reading the book and having this "big people" talk, she told me that she was going to make friends with this "different" student and make sure the kids didn't pick on him again. I was so proud of my niece and thankful we had read this book. I absolutely recommend that every parent, teacher, aunt and uncle get this for the young person in his/her life.

Rating:
Summary: What is Black?
Review: Marcus Chase Chafin, a delightful seven year old boy, is told by his teacher
to make a new friend every year. Marcus wonders how will he make a new
friend when he sees the same kids all the time.
One day while playing, Marcus sees a black squirrel. He tries to befriend
the squirrel but the squirrel keeps running away. One day Marcus and the
squirrel talk. Marcus tells the squirrel that he has never seen a black
one. The squirrel does not know what black means and reminds Marcus he is just a squirrel.
After much discussion about squirrels and their color and the correlation to
people and their color, Marcus comes to the conclusion that using color to describe
a friend is silly.
The illustrations are beautiful and the close-up features of Marcus and
Squizzy are beautifully detailed. The rest of the illustrations support the text
and are well done but the story itself is weak. The concept of being a friend to
someone regardless of color is a good one. While squirrels will play with each other
regardless of color, in a color-conscious society like America, most people socialize with
people of the same ethnic group, or people with similar backgrounds or interests.
We describe people by their color or other physical feature. We also describe animals by their colors, too.
Thus, when Marcus tells Squizzy that he is black, Marcus is naturally describing Squizzy. It is not offensive or negative. It is a statement of fact. Is this statement worth a story built around it? I'm not sure.
However, if the author wanted to make a point about befriending someone who is different, he somewhat succeeded. Marcus, a boy, befriending Squizzy, a squirrel, is different. However, when it comes to description, someone would describe them both as black.

Rating:
Summary: What is Black?
Review: Marcus Chase Chafin, a delightful seven year old boy, is told by his teacher
to make a new friend every year. Marcus wonders how will he make a new
friend when he sees the same kids all the time.
One day while playing, Marcus sees a black squirrel. He tries to befriend
the squirrel but the squirrel keeps running away. One day Marcus and the
squirrel talk. Marcus tells the squirrel that he has never seen a black
one. The squirrel does not know what black means and reminds Marcus he is just a squirrel.
After much discussion about squirrels and their color and the correlation to
people and their color, Marcus comes to the conclusion that using color to describe
a friend is silly.
The illustrations are beautiful and the close-up features of Marcus and
Squizzy are beautifully detailed. The rest of the illustrations support the text
and are well done but the story itself is weak. The concept of being a friend to
someone regardless of color is a good one. While squirrels will play with each other
regardless of color, in a color-conscious society like America, most people socialize with
people of the same ethnic group, or people with similar backgrounds or interests.
We describe people by their color or other physical feature. We also describe animals by their colors, too.
Thus, when Marcus tells Squizzy that he is black, Marcus is naturally describing Squizzy. It is not offensive or negative. It is a statement of fact. Is this statement worth a story built around it? I'm not sure.
However, if the author wanted to make a point about befriending someone who is different, he somewhat succeeded. Marcus, a boy, befriending Squizzy, a squirrel, is different. However, when it comes to description, someone would describe them both as black.

Rating:
Summary: A children's picturebook with a deeper message
Review: Written by Black civil rights activist and journalist Chuck Stone, Squizzy The Black Squirrel: A Fabulous Fable Of Friendship is a children's picturebook with a deeper message. When a seven-year-old boy makes friends with the only black squirrel in Fairmount Park, he learns that relying on color to describe oneself or one's friends makes no sense. Enhanced withthe artwork of Jeannie Jackson, Squizzy The Black Squirrel is a powerful parable for young readers ages 5 to 9 about embracing the virtue of open-mindedness.